Chapter 73: Extreme Heat 14
No one was guarding the construction site, and the lights weren’t on, so it was pitch black.
If Lu Qingyuan hadn’t stopped the car, she wouldn’t have noticed they had already driven past it. They parked the car by the side of the road, turned on their phone flashlights, and walked in. The mixers and other large equipment at the construction site had already been moved away; cement, sand, gravel, and red bricks were left behind because they weren’t valuable.
Lu Qingyuan looked at these things and frowned slightly, as if he had encountered a big problem. “Can these things be used?”
The NPC, always a successful person in previous identities, had encountered his own blind spot of knowledge.
“If we’re going to renovate the basement, these are all the things we need.”
Since the black fog, Chu Yian had learned a lot of things in the game. For example, how to drive a Tractor with one hand, and how to mix excellent cement mortar.
“There’s still some space in the car. What can we take back now?”
“Hmm… cement, I guess.”
Chu Yian pointed to the bags of cement piled nearby; these would be a little easier to carry.
They were just a bit heavy.
Chu Yian felt they were a bit heavy, but Lu Qingyuan carried a bag in each hand. Only after filling the last bit of space in the car did they return.
It was already three in the morning.
They only dared to go out in the cool of the night, which meant they still couldn’t rest.
The pineapple juice they made earlier had already been drunk. Chu Yian took out a well-water-chilled watermelon. She cut it in half, and the cold sweetness of the watermelon refreshed their tired and sleepy bodies before they continued on their way.
Lu Qingyuan carried the cement, while she transported the lighter bricks.
They went back and forth, transporting three carloads of building materials from the construction site, filling the small courtyard with these items.
Game Day 7, 7:00 AM.
The weather was getting hotter and hotter, and both of their physical strengths were almost exhausted.
Chu Yian drew a bucket of water from the well and carried it inside. After a cool shower, she headed straight for the sofa, and without much conversation with Lu Qingyuan, she immediately fell asleep.
She woke up at 3 PM, awakened by hunger.
Lu Qingyuan was still asleep at this moment, but when Chu Yian moved slightly, he also woke up.
“Teacher Lu, what do you want to eat?”
Chu Yian turned her head to ask him, thinking he had also been woken by hunger.
“Anything is fine.”
Currently, the generator only powered a refrigerator and the electricity for daily cooking. The daily diesel consumption was about 6L. Chu Yian had bought diesel twice, a total of 2000L, which was more than enough for the next few days.
She moved the cooking area to the basement and took out some chicken, lamb, potatoes, onions, and green beans from the refrigerator.
Rice was cooked in the electric rice cooker.
Chicken with potatoes and green beans was made into braised chicken.
Lamb was sliced and served with onions, cumin, and various spices.
Soon, the basement was filled with the fragrant aroma of the dishes. Unfortunately, the dining area was very simple, without even a table; they used cardboard boxes to hold their rice bowls, which clearly showed that they desperately needed a table.
Not just a table.
Although Chu Yian had already organized the basement, there were still many areas that needed work.
According to Lu Qingyuan, tonight’s workload would still be heavy, so after dinner, they would go back to sleep. Resting well during the day would give them the energy to work at night.
After dinner, Chu Yian went upstairs and took advantage of the break to open her treasure box and draw a treasure.
[A small, hand-cranked fan that blows wind.]
[Note: To be reclaimed after this round of the game ends.]
[Item’s inner voice: Whoosh, whoosh, the wind speed isn’t very fast, but it’s hand-cranked and doesn’t need electricity~]
It was a small, pink fan shaped like a cartoon pig.
There was a winding key on its backside, designed to look like a pig’s tail… Chu Yian looked at the pig fan, and the pig fan also looked at her. She didn’t know why, but she always felt this fan was the treasure box’s way of mocking her.
It was a waste of her time; she might as well go back to the basement to catch up on sleep.
8:00 PM.
They both woke up one after another.
All the lights in the basement were turned on, illuminating it brightly, and the basement was emptied once more.
The fire-resistant boards were the first to be used.
They added a layer of fire-resistant board to all four sides and the ceiling of the basement. This work alone took them almost an entire night. By the time it was daytime, they moved the bed downstairs to sleep. Meal times completely shifted from three meals a day during the day to two meals a day, one at dusk and one before dawn.
Game Day 8.
Under their design, the storage area was demolished and moved to the innermost part of the house to prevent the stored vegetables from spoiling due to dampness.
A stove was specially built with bricks so that Chu Yian wouldn’t have to squat on the ground to cook, and the dining table from upstairs was also moved down.
In addition, they also built the prototypes of two beds with bricks. Each bed prototype was the size of a single bed, 15 centimeters off the ground.
This was mainly to provide both of them with a place to sleep, while also isolating them from the dampness of the ground. After finishing the beds, they originally wanted to build a partition in the middle, as men and women are different, and everyone needs a bit of their own private space. However, the wall between them was only half a meter high when they ran out of bricks.
Game Day 9, 3:00 AM, they went out again.
This time, they only made two round trips before it was already light.
The duration of the night was shortening. Initially, it got dark at 7 PM and light at 6 AM, but now it was dark at 9 PM and light at 4:30 AM.
Not only was the night shortening, but the temperature was also rising. Even on the coolest nights, the temperature would not drop below 20 degrees Celsius. They lived in the suburbs, and the croaking of frogs at night and the chirping of birds during the day were now almost inaudible, all signaling that things were developing in a worse direction.
They returned to the rental house. Lu Qingyuan moved all the items from the car, and Chu Yian, as usual, drew two buckets of water from the well at night; this was their daily water supply.
However, this time when drawing water, the rope was already extended to its maximum length, yet it still fell short of reaching the water surface.
“Teacher Lu, the rope for drawing water isn’t long enough anymore.”
It wasn’t that the rope wasn’t long enough; it was that the groundwater was diminishing.
Lu Qingyuan looked at the well and frowned slightly. “How much bottled water have you stocked?”
“About… sixteen cases, I think.”
550-milliliter bottled mineral water, with about 24 bottles per case, totals 384 bottles of mineral water. This means they could drink an average of 17 bottles per day later on.
Chu Yian felt that the water she had stocked was already enough for them.
But her definition of “use” only accounted for drinking. What about other household water needs?
One must know, water is not only for drinking. It is also for washing dishes, washing vegetables, washing clothes, showering, flushing toilets… “We need a cistern.”
Lu Qingyuan looked at the bricks they had just brought back. Building a partition wall was clearly not as important as a cistern; resources should be spent on more crucial things.
“Preferably three meters long, two meters wide, and one meter high.”
Once the well water truly dries up, they need to ensure that the water in the cistern can last for at least a week.
